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2014 Resolutions: High Fantasy Challenge

For the year 2014, I chose 10 adult fantasy books that I’ve been meaning to read for a while, and set myself a challenge to read them all. This comes after my epic fail of 2013, when I read only 3 (!) adult high fantasy novels during the whole year. So these books are all set in a separate fantasy world, unlike the modern/urban fantasy that I’ve gravitated more towards the past couple of years (which features fantastical elements in our modern world).

Maija’s Top 10 Adult High Fantasy Books to Read In 2014

1. The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle #1) by Patrick Rothfuss *
2. The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard #1) by Scott Lynch *
3. Ship of Magic (Liveship Traders #1) by Robin Hobb *
4. Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire #1) by Mark Lawrence * (turned out not to be high fantasy)
5. The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2) by Brandon Sanderson
6. Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera #1) by Jim Butcher *
7. The Last Wish (The Witcher #1) by Andrzej Sapkowski *
8. The Blade Itself (The First Law #1) by Joe Abercrombie
9. The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany
10. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (might change, as this could be counted as a children’s book)

The asterisk after the title means I own the book. The links read to reviews of read books.
Check out the challenge shelf with all the books on GoodReads.

So, most of these are pretty new books, ’cause I somewhat dropped out of the high fantasy loop during the 21st century (apart from A Song of Ice and Fire). There are a couple of fantasy classics thrown in, which are great for not being part of a series! So I do realize that almost all of the books listed are the start of a series, but that is just how it goes with high fantasy novels. Perhaps I’ll get excited enough with one or more of the books that I’ll end up reading the whole of that series this year! And if I don’t care for some of them, I’ll just drop the series, but I really don’t see that happening.

What are your resolutions for the year 2014? What do you think about the books I’ve chosen to read?

What a great way to approach your resolutions! And a great selection of books. Of these, I’ve read the Jim Butcher series, and loved it! I have The Name of the Wind, The Lies of Locke Lamora, and The Blade Itself, but haven’t read them yet — maybe I’ll join you for some of these!

I’ve not read all of these but can’t fault the choices of authors. I have The Blade Itself waiting to be read also so let me know when you’ve reached that one – it might motivate me to bump it up the tbr (not that I should need motivating as it seems to be a much loved book!)
Lynn :D